Dean's Welcome

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to be writing to you this fall when, after many years of hard work, including dedicated support from many of you, the College of Engineering has secured the funding necessary to build a new, state-of-the-art engineering building. We are grateful to Governor Brian Sandoval and the Nevada Legislature for their support; to President Marc Johnson and the Board of Regents for backing this critical project; and to all of our alumni, donors and friends who have encouraged us over the years, helping our College to grow and giving time and resources to sustain that growth.

This fall, our Mechanical Engineering Department also moved back into Palmer Engineering, which was extensively renovated over the past year, providing additional square footage and modernizing aging laboratories and classrooms. Together, these two projects provide critically needed space and research infrastructure for the College and pave the way for future growth and innovation in our academic curricula and research programs.

In recent years, Nevada has attracted a growing number of high-tech employers in key industries such as advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity and autonomous technology. As Nevada's need for skilled engineers grows, the College has responded with new academic programs, new faculty with research expertise in these areas, and increased emphasis on partnerships with industry, both as employers for our students and as partners in our work.

In recent years, the College of Engineering has been the fastest growing College in the University, and our undergraduate enrollment has doubled in the last decade. We are committed to our role in Nevada's economic development, and the College stands ready to educate Nevada's future high-tech workforce.

In this issue of our magazine, we look toward that future, imagining the ways engineering will transform our society over the next decade. Engineers are developing technological solutions to societal challenges such as urban infrastructure, autonomy and robotics, safety, sustainable development, and health and medicine. Yet these innovations in engineering impact our societies in new and sometimes unpredictable ways, and the future of technologies like driverless cars or solar power is as much in the hands of citizens as it is in the hands of engineers.

As engineers, we are cognizant of our role in economic development and in developing technologies that improve quality of life in our communities. In the pages that follow, our faculty discuss the cutting edge in their fields and the technologies that might develop over the next decade, offering a glimpse into the ways engineering could change our society. I look forward to the future described in this magazine. As a College, we are proud to educate the students that will engineer this future.